Theresa May’s Speech

The British Prime Minister Theresa May made a speech this week in which she seemed to rule out EEA membership. Does that mean that EFTA cannot feature in the UK’s post-brexit future? We argue the answer is no – it must.

First off, membership of EFTA means we would be essentially signing a free trade deal with four countries at once. Norway, Iceland, Switzerland and Liechtenstein.

Thirdly, EFTA has offices in Brussels and has regular meetings with the EU. This would mean we could maintain good relations with the EU – especially as EFTA countries share in programmes like ERASMUS and mutually reciprocal healthcare arrangements.

Fourthly, we could combine EFTA membership with a WTO-only relationship with the EU, or with a Association Agreement, a Free Trade UK-EU agreement, or a DCFTA.

Fifthly, the UK has not had to negotiate new trade deals in decades. EFTA has many experienced trade negotiators who could work on our behalf.

Finally, bear in mind that the UK helped create EFTA in the first place.

Whatever our eventual relationship with the EU, we believe that EFTA membership is a vital component of our future external relations. For more details visit http://www.efta.int/